Essential Elements for Plants

All plants must have sixteen elements for normal growth and health. These elements can be divided in three categories: Major, Minor and Trace elements. These all must be dissolved in an ionized water solution to enter the plants metabolism. This simply means they will have a negative charge (missing an electron) or a possessive charge (having an extra electron). The following 3 elements are normally not listed as part of the plants essentials but as you can imagine they are of great importance.

These three elements are obtained from the ambient surroundings.

Oxygen O

Carbon C

Hydrogen H

Major Elements

The Majors are used in major quantities by the plants. They are normally referred to as NPK.

Nitrogen (N): central for growth, and is the essential element in protein production and the green colored chlorophyll. Nitrogen, feeds the bacterial organisms. Refer to the Nitrogen Cycle for further details.

Phosphorous (P): Builds roots and is very important for transplanting success, flowering, ripening of fruits, photosynthesis, breathing of plant and general growth. It is normally applied in larger amounts in the flowering stage of the plants. Many times Calcium phosphate is used for the “change-over” period of the plant. This is when the plant is just starting the change from pure growth to initiating it’s buds.

Potassium (K): Travels in whole plant. Transports the sugars, fiber for strength, resistance to diseases and insects and also contributes to starting the flowering.

Minor Elements

Calcium (Ca): is the major ingredient in cell walls and binds the cells together. It is found on the apexes of roots and is important for flowering.

Sulfur (S): Found in many proteins, enzymes and vitamins. Helps transport Mg, K and Ca. It is also important in producing chlorophyll.

Trace Elements

Iron (Fe): important for amino acids, enzymes, chlorophyll syntheses.Boron (B): important for water retention and fruit growthManganes (Mn): important for seed sprouting, hastens maturity, photosynthesis and chlorophyll synthesis, nitrogen metabolism and protein formation.Molybdenum (Mo): Very necessary and important for the plants and the micro organisms to absorb nitrogen. It is also necessary for the formation of proteins whose main composition is Nitrogen.Chlorine (Cl): stimulates photosynthesis.Copper (Cu): activates several enzymes. Also serves for making chlorophylle.Zinc (Zn): has an important role in making enzymes, proteins and plant growth hormones.

Optimum Element Levels

Nutrient

Limit in PPM

Avg. PPM

Major Elements

Nitrogen

150-1000

250

Phosphorus

50-100

80

Potassium

100-400

300

Minor Elements

Calcium

100-500

200

Magnesium

50-100

75

Sulfur

200-1000

400

Trace Elements

Copper

0.1-0.5

0.7

Iron

2-10

5

Boron

0.5-5.0

1.0

Manganese

0.5-5

2.0

Molybdenum

.01-.05

.02

Zinc

.5-1.0

.5

.

Conversions for ppm, %, mg/kg

1mg/kg = 1ppm

1mg/L = 1ppm

1ppm = 0.0001%

1mg/kg = 0.0001%

1% = 10,000ppm

1% = 10,000mg/kg

.

ppm to/from milliSiemens/cm

multiply the milliSiemens/cm reading by 1000 and divide by 2 to get your ppm, or simply multiply by 500

or

divide the ppm reading by 1000 and multiply by 2 to get your milliSiemens/cm reading, or simply divide by 500

Minor Elements

Trace Elements

Get Up-to-Speed on Microorganisms

Soluable Salt Ranges

Keeping up on your soluble salt range is important. Always have an instrument at hand to check your nutrient levels. The below chart is a general guide as to what levels are acceptable or not.

Desireable

Permisable

Dangerous

EC

.75-2 mS

2-3 mS

3 mS & ↑

PPM

500-1300

1300-2000

2000 & ↑

Electrical Conductivity (EC) of a solution is a measure of ionic compounds dissolved in water. Organic Nutrients are ionic compounds. Another name for ionic compounds is salts. Assuming the water had very little EC before you added the liquid fertilizer, measuring the EC will tell us how much fertilizer we have in our liquid. EC is commonly measured in milli-siemens (mS) and/or Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) expressed in Parts Per Million (PPM). Both will give you the same information of how much fertilizer is in your liquid. The EC and PPM are always in relation. So stating the EC and PPM is redundant. The relationship is 1 EC (measured in mS) = 650 PPM.

About BioChar Pyrolysis

Quote from:
Daniel D. Warnock & Johannes Lehmann & Thomas W. Kuyper & Matthias C. Rillig
"Biochar is a term reserved for the plant biomass derived
materials contained within the black carbon
(BC) continuum. This definition includes chars and
charcoal, and excludes fossil fuel products or geogenic
carbon (Lehmann et al. 2006). Materials
forming the BC continuum are produced by partially
combusting (charring) carbonaceous source materials,
e.g. plant tissues (Schmidt and Noack 2000; Preston
and Schmidt 2006; Knicker 2007), and have both
natural as well as anthropogenic sources. Restricting the oxygen supply during combustion can prevent complete combustion (e.g., carbon volatilization and
ash production) of the source materials. When plant
tissues are used as raw materials for biochar production,
heat produced during combustion volatilizes a
significant portion of the hydrogen and oxygen, along
with some of the carbon contained within the plant’s
tissues (Antal and Gronli 2003; Preston and Schmidt
2006).... Depending on the temperatures
reached during combustion and the species identity
of the source material, a biochar’s chemical and
physical properties may vary (Keech et al. 2005;
Gundale and DeLuca 2006). For example, coniferous biochars generated at lower temperatures, e.g. 350°C, can contain larger amounts of available nutrients,
while having a smaller sorptive capacity for cations
than biochars generated at higher temperatures, e.g.
800°C (Gundale and DeLuca 2006). Furthermore,
plant species with many large diameter cells in their
stem tissues can lead to greater quantities of macropores
in biochar particles. Larger numbers of macropores
can for example enhance the ability of biochar
to adsorb larger molecules such as phenolic compounds
(Keech et al. 2005)."
Check out the entire report at:
Mycorrhizal Responses to Biochar in Soil–Concepts and Mechanisms"

Biochar & Fungi Relationship

Cation Exchange Capacity Information Blurb

The total CEC is impacted by these factors:
Amount of active humus such as compost, Amount of passive humus such as Biochar, The pyrolysis method of the Biochar added, Was the Biochar activated and/or inoculated? The type and amount of microorganisms, and The overall pH